Published: Saturday, February 22, 2014 at 10:06 PM.

BOILING SPRINGS – Crunch time in a tight basketball game usually means those last three-or-four minutes when the outcome is in the balance.

Well, Gardner-Webb and Winthrop decided to stretch that definition out just a bit. From just under 11 minutes to go in the second half when the contest was tied for the first time, until the final buzzer in overtime of an 85-79 Runnin’ Bulldog win, the two Big South rivals went at it.

GWU was able to make a couple key defensive stops in the extra period to clam the ‘Senior Night’ win.

The victory boosted Gardner-Webb’s position in the league’s South Division – tied for second – at 9-5 (16-13 overall).

“There’s still a lot of basketball to be played,” said GWU head coach Tim Craft moments after the contest at Porter Arena. “It so jammed up in the league and all those teams have to play each other. Even if you split next week, you could finish anywhere from first to third or fourth. We’ll have to see how it shakes out.”

The intensity level rose considerably from when Winthrop tied the game for the first time at 47-all with 10:41 left. GWU started fast, hitting eight of its first 10 shots, and built a 24-11 edge. It was 32-24 at halftime before the Eagles, led by Keon Moore, came charging back.

“We had a lot of success early, but they are a really good defensive team and they tightened up,” said Craft. “We were able to cut Naji (Hibbert) off some baseline screens and they would lose him but as the game went on they really stayed on him and tightened up on that.”

BOILING SPRINGS – Crunch time in a tight basketball game usually means those last three-or-four minutes when the outcome is in the balance.

Well, Gardner-Webb and Winthrop decided to stretch that definition out just a bit. From just under 11 minutes to go in the second half when the contest was tied for the first time, until the final buzzer in overtime of an 85-79 Runnin’ Bulldog win, the two Big South rivals went at it.

GWU was able to make a couple key defensive stops in the extra period to clam the ‘Senior Night’ win.

The victory boosted Gardner-Webb’s position in the league’s South Division – tied for second – at 9-5 (16-13 overall).

“There’s still a lot of basketball to be played,” said GWU head coach Tim Craft moments after the contest at Porter Arena. “It so jammed up in the league and all those teams have to play each other. Even if you split next week, you could finish anywhere from first to third or fourth. We’ll have to see how it shakes out.”

The intensity level rose considerably from when Winthrop tied the game for the first time at 47-all with 10:41 left. GWU started fast, hitting eight of its first 10 shots, and built a 24-11 edge. It was 32-24 at halftime before the Eagles, led by Keon Moore, came charging back.

“We had a lot of success early, but they are a really good defensive team and they tightened up,” said Craft. “We were able to cut Naji (Hibbert) off some baseline screens and they would lose him but as the game went on they really stayed on him and tightened up on that.”

From the 47-47 tie, the contest would be knotted eight times through regulation play. Josh Castellanos dropped in the second of two free throws with 52.3 seconds to go to pull GWU even at 66, and Hibbert’s jumper in the final seconds wouldn’t drop, forcing the overtime.

The ‘Dogs had struggled at the line, making only seven of 15 tries in the second half. But in the extra period, GWU sank 10 of 12 chances to hold off Winthrop (15-12, 8-6 league).

Moore poured in 27 points for the Eagles. He got help from Larry Brown and Andrew Smith with 12 points each.